info(a)regenwald.org wrote:
Stop the EU Commission from forcing biodiesel from palm oil on EU countries.
Dear friends,
A leaked draft EU document shows that the Commission would like to
rename palm oil plantations as “forest” in order that biodiesel from
palm oil plantations can still meet EU biofuels sustainability criteria.
Palm oil expansion is a major cause of tropical rainforest destruction
and biodiesel from palm oil can easily cause more greenhouse gas
emissions that the fossil fuel it is meant to replace.
Please email the new energy and environment Commissioners and ask them
to amend this document to give a clear message to member states that
biodiesel from palm oil has no role to play in a sustainable EU energy mix.
The alert can be found at
http://www.rainforest-rescue.org/protestaktion.php?id=514
Many thanks.
Best regards,
Reinhard Behrend Rettet den Regenwald e. V. Friedhofsweg 28 22337 Hamburg
Germany
info(a)regenwald.org http://www.rainforest-rescue.org
Hi all,
Today's Chronicle has a poll asking whether San Francisco and Marin
should move forward with Community Choice/CleanPowerSF. (In the poll,
they call it "public power".) Of course choose the third option:
"Yes, and San Francisco should too".
Vote Now at:
http://www.sfgate.com/polls/qlist.shtml?/polls/2010/02/04/public , or
below in the article's left sidebar.
Make your voice heard! Please Vote now and forward on to others that
want a clean energy future and local green jobs! In addition to any
computers you have, you can also vote from smart phones and PDAs; one
vote per machine.
PS: PG&E will probably ask their employees to vote from any computers
they have so its really important that we show strong support for
Community Choice/CleanPowerSF and Public Power today!
PPS: The article has great news about Marin Clean Energy moving forward.
Marin County to provide power, oust PG&E
David R. Baker, Chronicle Staff Writer <mailto:dbaker@sfchronicle.com>
Marin County is poised to jump into the public power business, despite
fierce opposition from Pacific Gas and Electric Co.
The Question
Should Marin County begin providing public power?
Yes, way out of the PG&E monopoly
No, it will wind up costing more
And San Francisco should too
View Results
<http://www.sfgate.com/polls/result.shtml?/polls/2010/02/04/public>
Disclaimer <http://www.sfgate.com/polls/disclaimer.shtml>
More Polls » <http://www.sfgate.com/polls/>
GET QUOTE
Symbol Lookup <http://finance.sfgate.com/hearst?Account=sfgate&Page=LOOKUP>
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02.04.10
In a series of votes tonight, officials with the Marin Energy Authority
are expected to take some of the last key steps necessary to start
providing electricity to many of the county's residents and businesses,
taking over a role now filled by PG&E. The organization is a
joint-powers authority formed by the county and all of its cities except
Corte Madera, Larkspur, Novato and Ross.
The authority's board is scheduled to vote tonight on a proposed
contract with Shell Energy North America to line up wholesale
electricity supplies from power plants, wind farms and solar facilities.
The board also is scheduled to set the authority's electricity rates,
matching PG&E's rates for most customers.
"This is the final seal on a lot of the work we've been doing," said
Dawn Weisz, the authority's interim director. "We've been working on
this for seven years."
If all goes as planned, the Marin Energy Authority would start supplying
electricity to some customers in May.
It would be state's first example of a new kind of public power, known
as community choice aggregation. Created by a state law in 2002,
community choice allows towns, cities or counties to buy electricity for
their residents, while traditional utility companies such as PG&E
continue to own and operate the electrical grid. San Francisco is
developing its community choice aggregation system.
"I'm just totally thrilled that it's finally happening," said Paul Fenn,
who drafted the law and now helps communities adopt community choice
aggregation. "This is a very big thing."
But Marin's plan still faces hurdles placed in its path by PG&E.
The utility, based in San Francisco, argues that Marin residents will
end up paying more for power in the long run if the authority moves
forward. PG&E also has complained that, under California's laws, the
authority should have performed an environmental impact report before
setting up its system.
PG&E has funded an initiative on the June ballot that would make it far
harder for anyone to adopt community choice aggregation in the future.
Although the initiative would come too late to stop Marin, it could
complicate any efforts by the Marin Energy Authority to expand.
Finally, PG&E has threatened not to deliver electricity to the authority
over the utility's power lines.
"We are obligated to not deliver power if we believe that (the
authority) is not complying with (community choice aggregation) tariffs
and the law," said PG&E spokeswoman Katie Romans.
But the community choice aggregation law explicitly requires utilities
to cooperate with communities that adopt the system, said Marin County
Supervisor Charles McGlashan, who also serves as the energy authority's
chairman. PG&E's threat, he said, "is patently illegal, but they don't
seem to care."
E-mail David R. Baker at dbaker(a)sfchronicle.com
<mailto:dbaker@sfchronicle.com>.
This article appeared on page *D - 1* of the San Francisco Chronicle
Read more:
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2010/02/04/BUN81BS696.DTL&…
<http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2010/02/04/BUN81BS696.DTL&…>
When this email was sent, we were ahead.
The Question
Should Marin County begin providing public power?
Yes, way out of the PG&E monopoly (143)
35%
No, it will wind up costing more(93)
23%
And San Francisco should too(170)
42%
Total Votes: 406
Refresh Results
<http://www.sfgate.com/polls/result.shtml?/polls/2010/02/04/public>
Return to Vote
<http://www.sfgate.com/polls/qlist.shtml?/polls/2010/02/04/public>
